Junkie and loving it!

I've always been a sports junkie...for most of my adult life. Following different sports, different leagues, different players and so on. If you think that's easy, think again. So much tension, so much heartbreak, so many anxious moments and sooooooo much drama! There is constant action throughout the year with hardly any time to recover from victory or loss. Aussie Open, Superbowl, IPL, NBA playoffs, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, year-end tennis masters and the numerous cricket tours that happen these days.

Don't think for a second that following all of this and dealing with the heartbreak, especially, is easy. Sleepless nights follow many a victory and defeat alike. Hard to explain why I feel the way I feel. But I'm glad that my spirit hasn't changed and I'm still addicted...passionately, even.

For the moment, it's all laughter, smiles and trash talking. I've bled blue and have now moved on to yellow! Yellow IS the new blue...bring it on everyone!

Blue

2 teams, both blue.

2 teams, both tough.

2 teams, both champions.

What a great, clean, awesome match!

Bleeeeeeeeeed Blueeeeeeeeeee!

Loyalty and love...for sport

In today’s ever-changing ‘flat’ world, people from different parts of the globe live in other parts of it. They call it ‘home’ either for the moment or forever. But are they truly displaced in their feelings as well? Where is their heart? Who will they side with if their present and past ‘homes’ are on a collision course?

‘The Cup’ will make the sub-continent its home by the end of the week. An outsider to this event will think that this is achievement in itself. Alas, the truth is far from it. The magnitude of this, is known only to the billion plus whose hearts beat to the sound of every ball played.

A billion hearts will be praying, singing, screaming and urging you on today.

Bleed Blue India, Bleed Blue.

Mental replay

Retrospect is awesome. Should have, could have, ifs and buts. You can always fix something but only in your mind. If only Ashwin had taken just 1 run and given strike to Albie. 2 runs from 2 balls. Ah! A completely different result.

At least in my mind.

Retrospect is a killer.

Leagues and Sports - Part Deux

I wrote this during the IPL's inaugural season. Two years into the madness, I still stand by a lot of what I said except maybe the last couple of lines...a little too dramatic even for me! Other than providing 100% entertainment, the IPL has brought cities and states together at least during the 3 hours of every game. Wearing team colours, singing team songs, cheering, booing, clapping and whistling! You see it all during these games. And for people removed from their home state or city, there's nothing more satisfying than loudmouthing their home team victories against their adopted home teams to everyone that will care to listen!

Heckling and trash talking - the two things reserved for sports fanatics, the two things I missed the most since moving back to India! It's back baby, I'm back!!

WHISTLE PODU for the Chennai Super Kings!

CSK and DC, which one is really home to me?

After CSK lost in the IPL semis, I naturally supported DC because after all, they are my 'second home' team. Having lived in Hyderabad for 3 years now, I kind of qualify as a Hyderabadi (when it suits me only). But when the last ball was bowled, I did not feel the same euphoria that I would have had it been CSK walking away with the trophy. Try as I might, even spite (which was aplenty as DC beat RC which had beaten CSK) could not replicate those emotions that are usually reserved for favourites only.

And then a thought zipped through my mind. As long as I live in Hyderabad, my kids will always put the Chargers above the Kings. Naturally. DC will be their home team.

That should make for very interesting future IPL parties!

We are the champions...almost

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same" go the immortal words of Rudyard Kipling.

The French Open ended today and with it Federer's quest to become the best ever. Yes, he has many more years of tennis left in him but the chances of a French Open victory seem to have faded. There is only so much kindness that fate will show before the draw gets tougher and the game becomes more difficult. How must he feel?

A football match coming down to a penalty shootout is most exciting for viewers (however nail-biting it might be) but the worst ever for players. It all comes down to the goalie and which side he decides to dive to. The recent Champions League final was all that and more. The Chelsea captain could have won it for them with a simple kick but slipped and missed and went on to lose. How must he feel?

The Chennai Super Kings made it to the final against all odds. As lackadaisical as their fielding and batting was, the chances of a victory were not too remote. To take the match to the last over with 8 runs for the asking captain Dhoni decided to go with Balaji who was just back from a long break due to surgery than with Gony who had already taken 3 wickets. Reason? Take a risk, maybe the batsmen will be fooled by the pace of the ball (or lack of it). 1 ball left, 1 run needed, batsman hits a 4. How does the team feel?

As a avid follower of many sports, I find it so difficult to forget the game and go to bed in peace when the person/team I've been supporting has lost. I wonder how the athletes can digest their loss, make their peace and move onto the next event.

Tonight will be a sleepless night but not because of my little one.

Leagues and sports

An Indian cricket league is something I've always dreamt off. Imagine having your own home team to root for, wear their jerseys, cheer for the franchise player, buy season tickets, the whole nine yards! As much as I loved living in Hartford Connecticut, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad that we never had any city teams in any of the leagues (basketball, baseball, football...). No, I've never been a fan of the New England Patriots, so that doesn't count.

Anyway, we now have two cricket leagues in India; ICL (the rebel league) and IPL (the BCCI's answer to the rebel league). Neither of these are along the lines of what I imagined. I always assumed that a state's Ranji Trophy team would be marketed in a different way, people would get to know up and coming players from their state or city, maybe the matches themselves would be televised, stadiums packed and so on due to the marketing effort. Unfortunately, that's where the business aspect of sports comes in to play. Owners of these league teams are successful businessmen, actors and the like. The bottomline for them is ROI (return on investment) not talent encouragement. Hence all the league teams have international cricketers that have been bought for huge amounts of money (well, not all expensive....sorry, Ricky Ponting) and a couple of Indian youngsters, who might make it into the Indian team if they perform well at this level.

As much fun as it is to watch these games, I can't help but wonder what the difference between this and regular first-class cricket is (ok, format is T20 not 50-50). But shouldn't the INDIAN Premier league have only Indians playing in it? Shouldn't the league be a stepping stone for local talent to perform well and thereby act as a screening for the national team? One can argue that the Ranji Trophy teams are there for that reason alone but I think everyone knows that the truth is far from it. Players do not get in purely on merit. Favouritism is the name of the game. A star player has his 'chumchas' and refuses to play unless they are in the team...and so on. With the BCCI sitting on so much cash, its tough to say how this will pan out in the long run and how much good it is going to do for Indian (and World) cricket.

It feels a bit strange to see Glenn Mc Grath in a Delhi Daredevils tee or Shane Warne as captain of the Rajasthan Royals. I wonder how it feels for the players to be donning jerseys of cities or states that they have nothing in common with. Does money make that awkwardness go away? Does money replace pride and love of the game? Is this the future of all sports?

Superstars machi

Finally, there is a cricket league in India! I don't think the players in the league are awesome or anything but at least there is some concept of team marketing, merchandising etc. I guess people here have finally realised the revenue potential from sale of clothes, posters, bands etc. Madras has its own team (of course!), they're called the Chennai Superstars (OF COURSE)! It's Rajni's home after all!

The ads for the Indian Cricket League (ICL) are pretty cool. As biased as I may be, I find the Chennai Superstars ad the funniest . Decide for yourself.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zP1FHNsQgN0 http://youtube.com/watch?v=9LQhWFuKjlY&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=I9Aqj0bVS7Q&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=w-FKNqWIk1Q&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=C4AVu85Cmx8&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uYl3Kcq188Y

Chak de India!

No, this is not a review about the movie. Just what I thought would be a cool title to this particular post. Nothing brings out feelings of patriotism than a team victory in some sport. And when its cricket, and the opponent is England, its nothing short of August 15, 1947 all over again. A dramatic win last night helped by some good batting, some terrible fielding and a lot of luck. We'll take what we get though! Game 7 is on Saturday. It's not very often, in any sport, that a team comes back to win a best-of-7 series after being down 1-3. Dare we hope?

Chak de India!